News

Widespread Panic, Furthur, Double Keller Anchor All Good

The 14th annual All Good Music & Camping Festival returned to Masontown, WV this past weekend. The four-day event drew a record attendance thanks to headlining performances by arena-size jambands like Widespread Panic and Furthur. The event also featured marquee sets by Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, Dr. Dog, Old Crowe Medicine Show, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band and Lotus, among others.

Furthur’s Friday night performance fell on the 15th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s final performance. Though the group didn’t play anything to mark that anniversary, the Dead spinoff did nod to the festival’s inclement weather with “Looks Like Rain” in the first set and the Furthur original “Colors of the Rain” during the second set. Widespread Panic headlined All Good Saturday night with a marathon two-set performance. The band mixed new material like the Dirty Side Down track “Saint Ex” with the tour debuts of “Gradle” and “Sleeping Man.” Derek Trucks also sat in on “Second Skin” and “Gimme” near the end of the band’s first set. Earlier in the day, Widespread Panic guitarist Jimmy Herring also sat in with the Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band.

Several other artists collaborated throughout the festival. Jennifer Hartswick played trumpet with Tea Leaf Green on “Georgie P” (TLG featured drummer Rob McMillian while Scott Rager recovers from a sprained ankle). In addition, All Good favorite The Bridge, who have collaborated with a number of high profile bands at the festival in recent years, invited out Dark Star Orchestra’s Rob Koritz to play percussion on “Geraldine.” The Everyone Orchestra also played a Rex Jam that drew in Hartswick, Oteil and Kofi Burbridge, Brock Butler, Dr. Didg, Chuck Morris (Lotus) and many others. During the set, a naked fan jumped up on stage and knocked over half the drum set, which led conductor Matt Butler to start a chant asking, “Did your mama raise you to do this? NO!”

All Good veteran Keller Williams played two shows at All Good Sunday. His first set was billed as Keller’s Moonshine Breakfast took place before noon and focused on material from his new album Thief. He also passed out Moonshine to early risers. Later in the day, Williams returned for a proper set that nodded to The Dead with covers of “Bertha” and “Shakedown Street.”

Electronic acts like Bassnecter, Lotus and the New Deal ruled the festival’s late night schedule, though Yonder turned in a memorable late night set. Additional reporting by Grace Beehler

Actually, Cumberland Blues, Sugar Magnolia, and So Many Roads, were all played at the Dead’s last show on July 7, 1995 as well as by Furthur on July 7, 2010. So really they did play something to mark the anniversary. RESEARCH...